Improvement in railway-chairs



i PATENT Quince.N

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uvi Pnovevl sur` iN RAILWAYfCHAmS.

specification forming partf Letters Patent No.' 47.484, daten Apr-i1 25, 1ste.

To all whom it may concern. Y

Be it known that I, J. E. WILLIAMS, of in ,the county of Greene and State of Ohio, have invented anew' and useful Improvementin Railway-(Jh airs and I do hereby declare the following to be. afull, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had toz'the accompanying `drawings and letters Vof reference marked thereon, making part of this specification. 4

In 'my invention-I use a twopart wrought chair of considerable, length, with lips formed upon and extending through the entire length ot' either part, adapted to and firmly .embracing or clasping the base of the rail, the chair, moreover, being adapted to and resting at its extremities upon separate-ties, the whole being of such form and strength aste `bridge the space between the two ties and a'ord an adequate support to the ends of the rails without A olering suchjan inflexible resistance to the weight of. passing trains as to cause a rapid lamination of the ends of the rails.

Before'proceeding to describemy invention in detail, I will tant that the ends of the rails which meet to form a continuous track should be well snpported, and particularly that the two contiguous parts or ends which unite should be evenly and equally held, an inflexible support, such as is a'orded'by a broad cast chair of considerable weight resting upon a solid foundation, is not desirable. In' such cases the chair and .its foundation offer an anvilflike resistance to the action of the wheels, and the ends of the rails become yvery speedily crushed or lanninated. A certain flexibility isv therefore required, and this flexibility should, for several" reasons besides that which has been named, be as near as possible the same as that which per# tains to the central or other parts ofthe rails. Now,` this support cannot in the nature of the case be afforded by a tie placed under the joint, for the rail being divided or parted at this point, its own stiii'ness'is not so great, and more weight is thrown upon the tie. This causes the tie to become depressed very shortly, and

a destructive concussion ensues when the wheels pass over the joint. Increasing the face 'or bearing ot' the tie upon the ground, if suicient to prevent depression by the weight of the train, is almost certain 'to develop the other evil-@that of excessi ve rigidity. For the remark that while it is imporstructedto afford purpose'of securing amean between these two extremes, to avoid a rigid inflexible support, and atv the same time prevent .an undue depression at the joint, numerous devices have been employed, j Y

being of the class denominated heh-joints. These consist essentially in supporting the two contiguous parts by lateral supports of wood or iron, secured and clamped to one or both sides of the rail -by through-bolts. These pieces by tting snugly into the recesses in the sides of .the rail contribute all their; own stiffness to theV rails and render the joint in most cases sufficiently rigid.

thebolts throughithe body ofthe rail. i

Another class of joint by clamping the base ofV the rail in various way n forming a suspended joint, r In these improvements as heretofore constucted the chair either rests upon a single tie or lies between-two ties without resting upon either.

In thefirst cas'e the tie .is an ineffectual sup-` port to the chair, and the latter, not being conweight of the train being thrown entirely upon the lips, grooves and `cla-mpings, the parts which receive 'the strain either give way or the surfaces in contact soon become abraded and fail to support thejoint. In both cases the joint is inadequately suspended.

In my invention, as will appear, the grooves which receive the edges of the base of the rails extend the whole len gth of the chair. The ends of the chair rest fairly upon separate ties, while the construction of the whole is suchthat the rails are very iirmly clamped, and4 that part of the chair which lies -between the ties and bridges the' space between them isstrength-` ened by aheavy ange, so that the part of the track where thejoints occur is as rm and at the same time as elastic as any other -part of the track. i .i i

In the accompanying drawings, 'Figure l is an eleva-tion of a track supported at the joint by my improved chair. Fight? is a transverse section of the rail and chair through one of the bolts by which the two parts are conned land the ends of the rails clamped. y

Like letters referto like parts inthe two drawings.

the larger number of them The common.` and vobvious objection to the sh-joints is` the necessity of punching or drilling holes for improvements support the a support independently of the tie, necessarily fails. ln the other case, the

'The chair is in two alike in form and size.

A is the rail.

a is the joint. C C represent the two parts of the chair. D D are ties.

The chair is rolled in the form represen ted in the. sectional drawing. Thelength is about parts, the parts being two feet, andthe lips b, which form the groove into which the thin edge ofthe base of the rail isreceived, extend from end to end of the chair.

c c are iianges extending downward vabout two inches from the under side of the chair. These anges are cut away and removed for about six inches fromeither. end of each' part of the chair, leaving plain faces of that length o which rest upon the ties.l

d d are spikes which enter the ties and c0nfine the chair in place.

e e are screwbolts. passing' through 4the flanges c c, and also through a block of wood, f, placed against one of the flanges, as shown.

This block of wood withthe parts of thev anges not removed, as above stated, falls between the ties D D, as represented in Fig. 1.

The construction and arrangement of the parts which have been specified are such that when the bolts 'e e are tightened the two parts of theA chair a're compressed very tightly upon the base ofthe rail, thejoint t falling in the center between the two ends of. the chair and midway between the ties D D. The block of woodfa'ords a cushion for the nuts, which prevents them from jarring loose. The ends ofthe chair rest fairly upon the ties D D, and

A the vertical flanges c c afford just sufficient resistance to the weight of the train to prevent -undue depression without producing a rigidity of joint which would cause a destructive wear uponthe ends ofthe rails.

I ani aware that two-part chairs with lips A as'new, and for-which l embracing the base ofthe rail have been used ,l

I am not, however, aware that chairs have beenconstructed to extend-and rest upon two separa-te ties, with lips embracing the base of the'- rail through the entire distance.

Iam also aware that chairsA have been made' I with a flange or'web extending below the base of the rail; but this principle of construction hasbeen confined, so far as Iam informed', to

solid or single-part'chairs, or atleast to chairs l where no 'end support was afforded, and in which the principle of bridging the space be-A tween the ties was not attempted, as is the case in my invention. v

I am furthermore aware that blocks of wood have been employed for the purpose herein specified-that of affording a chushion upon whichthe nuts are tightened; but lregard the arrangement ofthe device herein specified as substantially different. r

I desire to disclaimthe devices in construction and arrangement above referred to, and restrict-myselfto the following, which I regard I desire to secure Letters Patent:

A1. Supportingthe joints of rails by means' of a twolpartlchair resting upon and bridging l lthe space between two separate ties, with lips b. b, extending the entire length, a'nd flanges c c, extending `below and falling between the ties, the parts being clamped and held by the bolts e e, or their equivalents, substantially in the manner herein described.

2. In combination with the foregoing, vthe block of wood f, for the purpose specified.

l J. E. WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS Soo'r'r, l). L. REID. 

